Field Camp
Need I say more? There is a competition called My Defining Moment Essay Competition, and most people will end up writing about the Mail Run event during Field Camp. This is where you shag yourself out completely, usually through an artillery strike and casevac (casualty evacuation: i.e. carrying people everywhere), and then receive a surprise letter from your parents. Everyone cries a little bit. The rest of the field camp is also draining, with the following highlights:
1) Stay in your dirty long 4 attire
2) Camo on almost all the time. When this gets into your eyes, they burn. You will likely eat a lot of this accidentally too.
3) Sleeping in a basha or a shellscrape, where it is extremely cold at night
4) Digging the damn shellscrape in the first place
5) Lying prone on hard rocks/mud/ant nests for a variety of reasons
6) Staying awake at night for sentry duties or to keep your equipment safe from roving commanders
7) High-kneeling. In order to remain "tactical", you cannot stand (too easily spotted) or sit (slow reaction) whenever you are waiting, and you have to put your weight on one knee, which sometimes result in your entire knee getting bruised.
8) The actual missions themselves (did you forget about this?)
Most people are hence relieved when they move on to the UO (Urban Operations) part, because buildings are really luxuries. My coy had the opportunity to play an intra-company mock battle (night assault) for UO, which was thoroughly enjoyable.
Rough Schedule
1) Route March to camp site.
2) Set Bashas up
3) Fire and Movement lessons
4) Dig Shellscrapes
5) More lessons - Fire and Movement revision, and also Crossing of Danger Area
6) Group Battle Course - test of all the group maneuvers
7) Move to UO site
8) Lessons on UO tactics
9) Group Battle Course - test of all the group maneuvers
Combat Rations
These are surprisingly tasty - for the first few times. After a while, you will realize that whether it says Japanese Curry Noodles or Hainanese Chicken Rice or Peranakan Style Rice Dumpling, it tastes almost the same and the monotony will hit you hard.
What you want is the Accessories Pack: biscuits, sweets, drinks and random goodies much like a goody bag. It is important to note, unless you are very selfless, that the quality of the packs can differ quite substantially. The best ones, by popular opinion, are the ones with Tiger Biscuits or Nescafe Coffee. Look out for them!